Planet ISKCON

The post December 29th, 2014 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Radio live broadcast from the MBC (Album 16 photos)
MBC = Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation. With Vidura Prabhu and Kartick Mohes. New Year’s message, semi-monthly radio live broadcast organized by Vidura Prabhu, one of senior devotees at Mauritius. The broadcast program is for 15 minutes. Pictures from the broadcast studio and from outside the MBC buidling, near Moka, Mauritius.
See them here: http://goo.gl/dRORn4

Snowy Radhadesh, Belgium (Album 20 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: These four principles: Always think of Krishna, become Krishna’s devotee, worship Krishna and offer your respect, obeisances to Krishna. That’s all. This is Krishna consciousness. Hyderabad, November 17, 1972.
See them here: http://goo.gl/l7uoJ9

Panihati and Snana Yatra at Hare Krishna Melbourne (Album 32 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Everything belongs to Krishna. So by His favor we get opulence, riches, but when we are opulent we forget Krishna, because maya is very strong. Delhi, November 16, 1971.
See them here: http://goo.gl/vwsPHA

‘Religion is so personal’
“Das recollects his favourite session with inmates of Tihar jail. He led a lilting kirtan session but found that most prisoners were unresponsive, when the DIG informed him that they were Muslims. “I asked them, do they not believe in Allah, who corresponds to the Hindu Krishna and Christian God? They said, ‘yes’. Then I explained to them how similar all religions were — if Islam had jannat and jahanum, Christianity had paradise and hell, and Hindus had the concept of swarag and narak, were they not all the same? I pointed out that the life source, energy, was provided by what Hindus call Surya, Muslims call Suraj and Christians, Sun, all the same, is it not? They said ‘yes’. And while Islam talked of Ruh, Hindus of Atman, Christians called it Soul, is it not? They said ‘yes’. Then what was the difference, I asked, were we not all addressing the same thing? We are all souls in different bodies — Krishna only says ‘you are all part of me and I am the Supersoul.’ After, that, all barriers were broken and everyone joined us in singing,” says Das.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/UTGozZ

The post Sunday’s kirtan for Radha Syama appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Kirtan program in Joyo Kyoto, 2014/12/27 (Album 52 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Philosophy is the highest, but even higher than philosophy is the practice of philosophy. So if you simply remain pure, your preaching will have effect. Letter to Brihaspati, November 15, 1971.
See them here: http://goo.gl/7WvaY9

The post Instructing our minds is part of our sadden and part of our preaching appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

ISKCON Rohini of Punjabi Bagh celebrated Rath Yatra festival on 28th December, 2014 (Album 67 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Chant Hare Krishna as many times as possible and be liberated. Thank you very much. Vrindavana, November 14, 1976.
See them here: http://goo.gl/5CZgH5

Prasadam in Norwich, UK
If you happen to be passing through or staying in Norwich, or visiting the North Norfolk coast, you may be interested to know that there is a lovely devotee cafe right in town. I stumbled upon Lili Cafe one day when I walked by and noticed Srila Prabhupada’s books in the window. I walked in and received a warm welcome from Vijay prabhu and Urmila mataji , had a lovely chat and delicious prasadam and they gave me information of Sunday evening meetings. I was staying at the coast in late October and trains, one an hour, would have left me walking in the pitch dark alone when I returned. But hopefully next time…
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/MOxS2E

Croatia Spiritual Retreat 2015
We are very honoured to have His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami as the chief guest for the upcoming European Spiritual Retreat to Croatia in May 2015. This will be a fabulous 7-day spiritual retreat to the beautiful Croatian island of Iz.
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/GX69m6

“Why does the dust that falls from my lotus-like feet immediately destroy all impurities? Why does Goddess Śrī not leave my side even though I do nothing to keep her there, while everyone else struggles to attract the slightest fragment of her attention? I am so pure and blessed only because I am so thoroughly devoted to serving those pure, blessed souls who listen deeply to my kīrtan.”

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.16.7

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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 01 December 2014, Mayapur, India, Srimad Bhagavatam Lecture 6.1.50)

Question: You have said that we are on our own and it is up to us to go back home, back to Godhead. What are we supposed to do?

Take devotional service very serious. Take it very serious! That is what we are supposed to do. Really, all I can say is: Be serious about serious things.

We can have lots of fun. Everyone wants some fun – so we can joke, we can play, we can feast and so on, but let’s be serious about serious things! Serious about chanting sixteen rounds, serious about following four regulative principles, serious about reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, serious about devotional service, serious about our ashram. Let’s be serious about serious things and then we will find that gradually we have become very focused and that we have become very serious about going back to Godhead.

Urban Yoga advertised the title of my lecture, “Spiritual Life in the Modern Age,” for another night at the centre, which has now been beautifully renovated.

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Harinama in Vladivostok, Russia (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: No one can be more pure than devotees. Anyone who once utters the name of Vishnu immediately becomes purified, inside and outside. Since a devotee constantly chants the Hare Krishna mantra, no contamination of the material world can touch him. He is, therefore, actually purified.
(Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.12.37 Purport)
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ISKCON Radha Golokananda temple, Phoenix, Mauritius (Album 21 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: A devotee, either in danger or in happiness, constantly chants the Hare Krishna mantra. When he is in danger he is immediately relieved, and when he is in a position to see Lord Vishnu or His associates directly, by chanting this maha-mantra he can please the Lord. This is the absolute nature of the maha-mantra. Either in danger or in happiness, it can be chanted without limitation. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.12.21 Purport)
See them here: http://goo.gl/hsMgss

Col_Bk_Krishna_02_P_iskcondesiretree

With thanks to Dhamananda mataji  for her lovely service finding this pic on Desire Tree.

If you happen to be passing through or staying in Norwich, or visiting the North Norfolk coast, you may be interested to know that there is a lovely devotee cafe right in town.

I stumbled upon Lili Cafe one day when I walked by and noticed Srila Prabhupada’s books in the window.  I walked in and received a warm welcome from Vijay prabhu and Urmila mataji , had a lovely chat and delicious prasadam and they gave me information of Sunday evening meetings.  I was staying at the coast in late October and trains, one an hour, would have left me walking in the pitch dark alone when I returned.  But hopefully next time…

Do give the cafe a visit – it’s on Upper Goat Lane, just past the Queen of Hearts if you are walking from town.

Radhanath Swami Speaks at the London School of Economics
The talk had a visible impact on a large portion of the audience, many of which stayed behind after for book signing or a quick conversation. Moreover, with the amount of effort and people involved, it would seem that it was a sign of more initiatives to come here at the LSE, especially from students and students’ union societies. A quote from the night that was continually repeated by attendants afterwards acts as an ideal summary of the event; “’you can count how rich you are by the number of things you have that money can’t buy.”
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/INmHC9

Friday Harinama in Tel-Aviv, Israel (Album 111 photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given us a nice weapon for this age. The narayanastra, or weapon to drive away maya, is the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra in pursuance of the associates of Lord Caitanya, such as Advaita Prabhu, Nityananda, Gadadhara and Srivasa. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.11.1 Purport)
See them here: http://goo.gl/UthGO4

Albert Einstein once said, “Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” Today when the world is increasingly apprehensive of barbaric tyrants acquiring weapons of mass destruction, his statement seems more than prophetic. Unlike an axe that can maim a few, such weapons can massacre millions in moments.

Actually, Einstein’s bleak diagnosis came true in his own lifetime – and with his unintentional participation. He, due to fears that Hitler might develop atomic weapons first, wrote to the US President the letter that kick-started the Manhattan Project and led to the atomic devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is a tragic testimony to the hazardous nature of technological progress that the greatest insight of one of the greatest modern minds (Einstein’s discovery of the inter-convertibility of matter and energy) paved the way to one of the worst man-made modern disasters.

It is a tragic testimony to the hazardous nature of technological progress that the greatest insight of one of the greatest modern minds (Einstein’s discovery of the inter-convertibility of matter and energy) paved the way to one of the worst man-made modern disasters (Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

My point is certainly not to blame scientists or science or technological progress. My point is the same as was Einstein’s in his above quote – to highlight the danger of lopsided human progress, of sharpening the axe without reforming the criminal, of gaining increased outer control without gaining commensurate inner control. Martin Luther King Jr echoed, “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power.”

“Spiritual power” refers here to the power that brings out humanity’s higher side and curbs and cures its lower side. Metaphorically speaking, spiritual power disarms and heals the axe-holder. The Bhagavad-gita (16.21) indicates that lust, anger and greed are three anti-spiritual inner forces that bring out the worst within people. That is, they make the axe-holder criminal and pathological. Under their spell, people abuse technology. For example, greed for absolute power made Hitler’s Nazis abuse technology to murder millions in the Holocaust.

Authentic spirituality counters the inner enemies by connecting us with our noble core, the soul, and also with the noblest being, God. Such spiritual connection centers on tangible inner transformation, not nominal religious affiliation. Nominal religionists are as vulnerable as everyone else to the inner enemies.

Transformational spiritual practices such as yoga and meditation enable us to realize the spiritual connectedness of all living beings and to relish higher fulfillment – fulfillment that empowers us to resist the lures of power and pleasure dangled by lust, anger and greed.

In recent times, humanity has invested enormous intellectual energy in developing technologically, but hardly any energy in developing spiritually. If we take up spiritual practices diligently and set positive examples of all-round human progress, we can stimulate a healthy chain reaction of similar holistic progress in society. Such balanced all-round progress alone can empower people to use technology for human well-being.

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